Fans were left hanging on the edge of their seats on Wednesday (May 25) when Avery (Jonathan Jackson) learned that a plane bringing his love Juliette (Hayden Panettiere) back from Hollywood had gone missing.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Lionsgate TV boss Kevin Beggs defended a decision to scrap an alternate version where Juliette would have arrived home safely to reunite with Avery.

"There's a little short-term pain but ultimately long-term gain because we intend and are quite focused and are in substantive and serious conversations with multiple buyers about continuing the show on another platform," Beggs said.

"If we didn't feel that was going to happen, we might have gone a different way."

He added: "At the time, [the happier alternate ending] was something we had in our hip pocket, but you never know. We weren't thinking at that time that we would be going to any other platform."

Now, Lionsgate is apparently in talks with multiple broadcasters to bring Nashville back for at least a final run of new episodes.

"The ending we ran was the ending always envisioned for this season," Beggs added. "These things are crafted over weeks and months.

"In our estimation, to go with a quickly assembled too-easy wrap-up is more of a disservice to the fans who have invested four years in this great cast and these great stories. And there's more stories to tell."

Beggs also refused to rule out potential Nashville spinoffs for the future, but clarified: "It's premature to think about that because we feel the flagship has many more miles to go."